Convertible chair.



e. s. SWINGLE. CONVERTIBLE CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2.5!917- RENEWED JUNE 2 16m I9 F:

Patented Sept. 17, 1918.

5 1 GEORGE fi-fiwmeu:

and

* hurrah STATES PATENT oFFIoE;

GEORGE s. SWINGLE, or BYESVILLE, orIIo, assrcnon or ONE-HALF T0 BENN1EDAVIS,

or BYESVILLE, OHIO.

CONVERTIBLE CHAIR.

To all whom it may concern. Be it known that I, GEORGE S. SWINGLE, acitizen of the United States, residing at Byesville, in the county ofGuernsey and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Convertible Chairs, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to convertible furniture, and particularly to anarticle which 'may be converted either into a chair, crib,

or a wagon.

The general object of the invention is to providea very simplyconstructed article of this character which may be used either as a highchair, a crib or a wagon and which may be readily converted from one tothe other as the user desires.

And a further object in this connection is to provide a device of thisCharacter having side pieces, pivoted end pieces, and intermediatesections pivoted to the side pieces, and so connected to one of the endpieces that when the end piece is swung to form the back of a'chair, thesections will form a. seat and foot rest for the chairand when the endpiece is swung to form the endof a crib or agon, the said sections willform the bot-- tom of the crib or wagon; V

A further object" is to provide means whereby either wheels or rockersmay be readily applied to ordetached from the side pieces as it may bedesired.

Other objects will appear in the course of the followingdescription.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein L i 1Figure 1 is a side elevation of a convertible chairconstructedinaccordance with my invention V Fig. 2 is a front elevationthereof;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of ,7 the article converted intoa crib Fig. 4 is a front elevation thereof;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the" manner'of mountingtrucks upon the constructionillustrated in Fig. 3;

' Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the front truck,

the members 48 being in section.

Referring to F ig; 1, in which I have shown my device in the form ofSpecification of Letters I 'atent.

and the connecting pieces bymeans of springs29. upon the outerfaces ofthe curved portions a high chair lO designates oppositely disposedparallel side pieces-each side piece consisting of a I'illl" 11.

Patented Sept. 17, 1918. Renewed June 2c, 1918. Serial No. 242,096.

which is bent in the form of an elongated U and may be formed of eitherone or more sections, if desired, but preferably in one section, thelegs of this U-shaped side meniher being braced from each other by aplurality of transverse braces 12. The legs 13 are relatively thick andthe legs 14 are relatively light in construction. Disposed between thelegs 13 adjacent the bent portions of the side pieces is a transverselyextending board 15, which may be permanently attached to the legs 1% inany suitable manner.

Pivoted to the legs 13 at that end of the side pieces remote from thecurved portion which connects the legs is an end piece 16, which hasupper and lower cross pieces, the upper cross piece being designated 17,these cross pieces being connected by vertical bars 18. Thecross piece17 is wider than the distance between the legs 1%, so as to extend overthese legs for practically all uses, but this end piece may be turneddown into a plane approximately parallel to the plane of the lcgs'13 orat right angles thereto. The legs 13 are also connected by means of aplurality of braces 19, 20 and 21.

Pivotally mounted between the legs 13 adjacent the curvedportions'of't-he legs, is an end piece 22 which may be of'any suitabledesign, but which is preferably composed of the cross bar 23,' the crossbar 24lbars 25. This end piece 22 is pivoted to-the legs 13 bymeans of apivot rod 26 so that the end piece 22 may be turned into a positionparallel to tl'ie'legs 13 or at right angles thereto, 7 For thepurposeof holding the end member 22 in a positi on parallel to the legs 13, Ihingedly mount upon theends of the cross piece 24, the latches 27, whichare formed of flat leaves of metal bent to provide finger holds 28 andurged against the edge faces of the side Mounted of the side pieces arethe detent strips30 with which these latches engage, the latchesengaging againstthe ends of these detentstripswhen the end member 22 isturned up to form a chair back as illustrated clearly in Fig. l.

Pivotally mounted as at just below the piece 15 is a section 31 having awidth approximately equal to the distance between the leg 13 and thecorresponding leg 14, in

other words", equal to the depth of the side toys, etc.

pieces and pivotally mounted upon the legs 13 below the section 31 is asection 32 carried on rods 32, the section projecting beyond the section31 when horizontal position, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the section 32being spaced from the pivotal point of the arms 32 a distance sufficientto permit the section 31 to turn into a position behind the section 32when the sections 31 and 32 are turned into a position parallel to thelegs 13, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The width of the section 32 is suchthat when it is turned to a position parallel to the legs 13 it willfill the space between the pivotal axis of the section 32 and the endmember 16 and rest upon the transverse brace 19. The section 31 when itis turned down will rest upon the transverse brace 21. These sections 31and 32 are connected to the end member 22 by means of the links 33 and34: which are formed of strap iron. Each of the links 33 is pivoted atits upper end to one of the vertical rods 25 and at its lower end ispivoted to the section 31 intermediate the free and pivoted edges of thesection. The links 3% are pivoted to the section 31 and to the section32 and thus the end piece 22 and the sections 31 and 32 will movetogether. When the end member 22 is in a position parallel to the planeof the legs 13, the sections 31 and 32 will be at right angles to saidplane. When, however, the end member 22 is turned into a position atright angles to the plane of the legs 13, the sections 31 and 32 will beturned into alinement with each other and parallel to the plane of thelegs 13. V

Thus in Fig. 1, the end member 22 is turned to form a chair back, thesection 31 forms the seat of the chair and the section 32 projecting outbeyond the seat forms a foot rest, while in Fig. 3, the member 22 isturned at right angles to the plane of the legs 13 and forms an endpiece confronting the end piece 16, while the sections 31 and 32 areturned so as to form the floor of a crib or wagon.

The legs 13 are provided adjacent the V curved portion with perforations36 and the opposite ends of the legs are provided with perforations 37.The legs14: adjacent the curved portions are provided with perforations38. These perforations 38 receive pins. 39 carrying a cross piece 40,which forms a table extending across the high chair, as is usual in highchairs, and so long as this transverse piece is in place, the child isheld in the high chair and this cross piece provides a support for theusual tray or for This cross piece is, of course, removable as it wouldnot be used after the article is converted into a crib or wagon, asillustrated in Figs. 3 and 5.

For the purpose of converting the'chair into a rocking crib, I providethe rockers 41, which are connected by longitudinal braces the sectionsare in a.

12, these rockers having upwardy extending legs 43 adapted perforations3G and 37 and if necessary transverse pins may be disposed through theselegs, so as to hold the rockers in place.

In Fig. 5, 1 show the chair converted into a wagon and for this purposeI provide rear wheels a l mounted upon vertical legs l5 which areprovided with longitudinally extending pieces 46 upon which the legs 13of the side pieces rest when the legs %5 are disposed through theperforations 37. The front wheels l7 are mounted upon verticallyextending standards $8, which are disposed through the forwardperforations, these standards d8 having longitudinally extending members4:9 pivotally connected to trans-. verse links 50, to which a tonguesection 51 is connected, this tongue section 51 having pivoted thereto asecond tongue section 52 pivoted for vertical movement. Inasmuch 'as theupper ends of standards %8 are circular in cross section, they canrotate in the perforations 36 and thus the wagon can be steered in anydirection.

It is to be noted that when the sections 31 and 32 are disposed inalinement with each to be inserted through the V other, the links 34:will also be disposed in a horizontal position and in the same plane asthe sections so that no pull upon the end member 22 will cause thesesections to turn into a position at right angles to the plane of thelegs 13. It requires that the sections 31 and 32 shall be forced inwardslightly before a movement of the end member 22 will draw the sections31 and 32 into a position at right angles to the legs.

It will be obvious also that this device may be converted into a sled byproviding runners having upstanding pins insertible into theperforations 36 and 37 My device is very simple, may be made ofdifferent materials and may be made more or less ornamental as may bedesired. It is also to be noted that the weight of a child on the seatsection 31 when the article is converted into a chair will cause thelatches 27 to firmly engage with the keepers or detents 30, as thegreater the weight of a child, the more firmly will the latches beengaged with thekeepers.

Having described my invention, what I claim is :f g V 1 i 1. Aconvertible chair including spaced sides and an end member mountedbetween the sides at one end, a second end member pivotally mountedbetween the sides at the opposite end andmovable into or out of aposition at right angles to the first end member, sections pivotedbetween the sides, that section remote from the'pivoted end piece beingwider than the other section, links pivotally connected to the pivotedend member and to said sections whereby to hold the pivoted end memberat right angles to the sections at all times, and means for holding thenected to the pivoted end member in a plane at right angles to the firstnamed end section to form a chair back, the side sections respectivelyforming a seat and a foot rest under these conditions.

2. A convertible chair including spaced side pieces, each side piecebeing U-shaped in form to provide a pair of legs connected by a roundedportion, an end and back member mounted between the sides at one end andpivotally connected with one of said legs, a second end member mountedbetween the sides at the other end and pivotally consame legs to whichthe other end member is connected, sections pivotally connected to saidlast named legs formovement into or out of a position parallel to saidlast named legs, links connecting the pivoted end and back member tosaid sections Whereby the sections may have unitary movement and backmember, the links holding the end and back member at all at right anglesto the planes of'the sections, and latches for holding the a positionparallel to the last named pair of legs and the sections at right anglesthereto.

3. A convertible chair including spaced side plece's, each side piecebeing U-shaped in form to provide a pair of legs connected by a roundedportion, an end and back mem- Copies of this patent may be obtained forfive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents by thesections may have unitary movement with the end and back member, thelinks holding the side member at all times. in a plane at right anglesto the planes of the sections, latches for holding the sidememcomprising leaves pivoted to the free end of the side member andresiliently urged toward the outer faces of the curved portions of theside pieces, and keepers. mounted upon said curved portions of the sidepieces and with which engage.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afliX my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

hlS GEORGE S. SWINGLE.

lVitnesses A. 0. SMITH,

Washington, D. G.

said latches

